1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a charging control system for a moving robot system wherein each of plural moving robots (or mobile robots) is controlled to automatically move to a designated point at which the predetermined operation assigned thereto is to be performed.
2. Prior Art
Recently, the moving robots capable of automatically moving by themselves are frequently adopted in the factory automation system (i.e., FA system).
As the representative of the conventional system including the moving robot, there is provided a moving robot system which contains plural moving robots and control station for controlling them. In accordance with the commands from the control station, each moving robot automatically moves to the specific point such as its working point and charging station wherein it carries out the predetermined operation. The control station is designed to manage map information representing the moving area of the moving robot, and it also monitors the current position of the moving robot and whether or not the moving robot is now under operation. In this case, this control system carries out the operation command to the moving robot while communicating with the moving robot by use of the wire-communication or radio-communication.
In addition, the moving robot is driven and run by an electric motor which is usually driven by a charging-type-battery. Herein, the control station measures the passing time to be passed after the charging-type-battery is charged. Then, by every predetermined passing time (e.g., sixty minutes), the control station controls the moving robot to carry out the charging operation. In this case, the control station informs the moving robot the position of its nearest charging station. Then, the moving robot automatically moves to such charging station by itself. Thereafter, the moving robot automatically engages the power-receiving coupler thereof with the power-supply coupler provided at the charging station so that the charging-type-battery thereof is to be charged.
As described above, according to the conventional charging control system, the control station is designed to measure the passing time of the charging-type-battery of each moving robot. Therefore, the special programs must be provided for the control station to manage the passing times of the moving robots. For this reason, there is a disadvantage in that the processings of the control station must be complicated.